Thursday, November 15, 2012

Blog Tour Review: Breath of Dawn

Morgan Spencer has had just about all he can take of life. Following the tragic death of his wife, Jill, he retreats to his brother's Rocky Mountain ranch to heal and focus on the care of his infant daughter, Olivia. Two years later, Morgan begins to make plans to return to his home in Santa Barbara to pick up the pieces of his life and career.

Quinn Riley has been avoiding her past for four years. Standing up for the truth has forced her into a life of fear and isolation. After a "chance" first meeting and a Thanksgiving snowstorm, Quinn is drawn into the Spencer family's warm and loving world, and she begins to believe she might find freedom in their friendship.

The man Quinn helped put behind bars has recently been released, however, and she fears her past will endanger the entire Spencer family. As the danger heightens, she determines to leave town for the sake of the people who have come to mean so much to her.

Fixing problems is what Morgan Spencer does best, and he is not willing to let Quinn run away, possibly into the clutches of a man bent on revenge. But Morgan's solution sends him and Quinn on an unexpected path, with repercussions neither could have anticipated.

My Comments:

Kristen Heitzmann grabbed me from the very beginning of this book. I don't know quite how she does it, but she had me feeling tension and dread throughout the book.

I enjoyed Heitzmann's other books, A Rush of Wings and The Still of Night (links are to my reviews) so being able to "catch up" on the characters was enjoyable; however Morgan is the only one with a major role in all the books and honestly, not reading them would not leave you without backstory you really need to understand this one.

The faith elements in this book are important, but not in the usual manner of Christian fiction. Much of the pain in Quinn's life was due to ministers who misused their authority. I like the comparison Heitzmann made between Quinn's father and Morgan, and between the way Quinn saw God and the way Morgan did.

I found some of the situations in the book to be somewhat improbable--I really didn't think a person in those situations really would have acted the way some of these characters did sometimes--but then I've never thought someone was trying to kill me.

I'd like to thank the folks at Litfuse for sending me a review copy of this book. Grade: B+